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The accident itself occurred on August 26. Early in the morning at the crossing near the city of Shcherbinka electric train Serpukhov-Nakhabino rammed Chevrolet Lacetti and dragged him 200 meters to the platform, where the city residents were waiting for the morning train. Immediately after the accident, railroad workers on their official website, as well as a number of representatives of official bodies, were quick to accuse the driver of an accident. By the way, he survived due to the fact that the blow fell on the opposite passenger door (fortunately, there was no one else in the car), but was badly injured. However, later on the Network got a video that captures the following: the move was open, and the driver drove off to the traffic light permitting signal …
We decided to find out how this could happen directly at Russian Railways. “Depending on the move, but, as a rule, not less than 1–1.5 km from the approaching train, the automation receives a signal. An alarm is triggered, barriers are immediately lowered and protective barriers are raised,”Vladimir Myagkov, head of the corporate communications service of the Moscow Railway, told Za Rulem. RF correspondent.
However, in the event of force majeure (when the car stalled or got stuck on the tracks), the shift duty officer has a special button that allows you to manually adjust the operation of barriers and barriers. Shortly before the accident, the duty officer, in violation of all instructions, independently used it to pass the cars.
Here it is necessary to tell in more detail about the move itself. In general, it is considered problematic, train traffic on this section is very busy, because of this it can be closed for a long time. Large traffic jams accumulate on both sides. “At the same time, the duty officer is actually left alone with the drivers, who, apparently, sometimes exert psychological pressure on him,” explains Myagkov.
Russian Railways are confident that this is exactly what happened on that ill-fated day. The caretaker took responsibility and sealed the manual removal control button, wanting to let in more cars. But even considering the fact that he did not have the right to do so, he was obliged to warn the duty station, which, in turn, always keeps in touch with the approaching trains. The braking distance of an electric train is on average about 800 meters, the locomotive team, applying emergency braking, managed to reduce the speed of the train from 92 to 60 km / h.
“When the heads of the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Emergencies, the traffic police came to the place, they began to sort it out. We tested the automation of the move - everything works as usual. And if you watch the entire video, and not just what was published in the media, it will be seen that the crossing signaling and equipment both before and after worked in working order,”the source said. The attendant, having seen what he had done, returned the button to its original position. Therefore, the responsible persons saw the working equipment, the testimony of the duty officer indicated that the driver was to blame and there was no reason to doubt it. And unfortunately, practice confirms this.
According to human rights activists, now Russian Railways confesses their guilt only to rectify the situation. If the video didn’t get on the Web, the motorist would have remained guilty. We spoke with Peter Shkumatov, the coordinator of the movement of the Blue Bucket Society, who is very familiar with the situation at this crossing. “You know, I went there myself - it's a hell of a move,” he says. - He repeatedly moved and even believe in the version of Russian Railways. Probably, the operator really raised the barriers, because this is the only possible way to get there somehow.” Shkumatov recalls that a huge number of people live in Shcherbinka, who are cut off by rail from communication with other parts of the region.
